The Da Vinci Code

[poliphilo]

They say the Da Vinci Code is badly written. That's enough to put me off. Life is too short.

But what really gets me is that people are reacting as if this stuff about The Priory of Sion and Mary Magdalen and Rennes Le Chateau were new and shocking. It isn't. It's all there in the 1982 non-fiction best-seller The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which is still in print. Also it's all over the Net. What sheltered lives some people must lead!

Also, if Brown had researched properly- instead of just reading The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail- he'd have known that the Priory of Sion has long since been revealed as a hoax. I'll admit I didn't know that myself before last night (when Channel 4 revealed all) but if I'd been proposing to put the Priory at the centre of a novel I'd have made damn sure I found out all I could about it before I went ahead and committed myself.

Comments

[jenny_evergreen]

I haven't read the book, but my mother enjoyed it. To be fair, as I understand it, the author has said that he was writing fiction and that he wasn't actually trying for accuracy.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Well, yes. He's touched a nerve and good luck to him.

It's just that this stuff about Sion and Rennes Le Chateau and the Sang Real has been out there for decades and I'm surprised at anyone being shocked or surprised at it.

[pickwick.livejournal.com]

I was a bit worried about the guy they used to dismiss the Sang Real argument last night, because he didn't back up his argument about the mistake by the 15th century monk at all.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's true. I'd like to have seen chapter and verse.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

You think that because you're interested in it. Believe me, the Da Vinci Code is being read by a lot more people than who would be willing to spend their time reading a nonfiction book about religion.

Myself included. I'd never pick up such a thing.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

But the Holy Blood and the Holy Grail was a huge best-seller. And it's a damn good read.

But you're probably right. I'm a religious-weirdness and conspiracy nerd. I guess I expect my tastes to be more widespread than they are.

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

More specifically, Brown says the book is fiction based on fact, whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It means he's intellectuaslly lazy.